Shadowhunters
by HermioneSophie
Summary: OC'S set in the Shadow World, dealing with life.
1. Prologue

**AN: Hi everyone! This is the first story that I've ever published. I've written about 19K words so far, but have a few issues in between.  
Please let me know if you're interested in reading more! It would be very much appreciated.  
I look forward to hearing your opinions **

Kyle lay in bed thinking about the day to come. He remembered his mom saying that something important was going to happen, but since it was still early he doubted he had missed the event. But what had it been? As he mulled over this question he could practically hear his mother's voice in his head saying "Darling, please remember that… tomorrow" to him last night at dinner. Picking up his phone he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stretched. He pushed a strand of his hair out of his eyes that was tickling his face and got up. His feet landed in the soft carpet he had on the floor of his room at the Institute. Since every room had either stone or wooden floors in the Toronto Institute, he had opted for a more comfortable covering for his own room. After grabbing clean clothes he slipped into the bathroom that was basically his own, since the adjacent room was not occupied. In the shower he remembered. Their guest, who was going to be living with them for the next year would be arriving after breakfast. His name was Christian Ashthorn and he came from the Paris Institute. Kyle wondered how Shadowhunters in Paris did everything. If they trained the same, learned the same history and so on.

Kyle shook his hair so the black curls fell into their normal position and raked his green eyes over the face looking at him in the mirror. He shrugged. It would do. After donning his clothes he added his daggers, two in each boot and two tucked in his belt in a way that concealed them. His phone buzzed in his hand and he looked down. It was a message from his cousin telling him to move his ass to breakfast. Kyle sighed and opened the heavy wooden door of his room.


	2. Chapter 1

**AN: Good morning! Here is the first chapter of the story. I'd love to hear what you think. If you have any comments or things that are unclear feel free to ask me anytime. Besides that, have fun reading!**

The Toronto Institute had once been the building of parliament, which meant there were many rooms and quite expensive décor. The halls all had thick carpets covering the floor which seemed to muffle every step and movement, which led to people being able to move about unnoticed. The windows were larger than in normal hallways giving everything an open and friendly feeling. Due to the former use of the building, the Institute was situated directly in the heart of Toronto, making the view "boring". A side effect of the Institute once being a building of parliament meant that after its new purpose had been decided, lots of renovations for living quarters had been made. All the offices had been changed to bedrooms with a bathroom being shared by two rooms. A kitchen, training rooms and weapons room needed to be made. The library was expanded and the large meeting room made into a dining room. During the renovations the Shadowhunters had installed their own flair to the place, putting paintings of Angels and the Mortal Instruments on the walls, and making it more like a place of warriors rather than politicians.

After leaving his room Kyle turned right towards the large staircase that would take him down to the first floor where the library, kitchen, dining room, training room and conference room were situated. Kyle reached the landing and started towards the dining room hearing a clamour of voices coming from within. He pushed the door open and put on a sheepish look and looked at everyone. His grandfather, the head of the Institute, sat at the head of the table talking his wife to his left and to Kyle's parents on the right. His brothers and cousins were scattered along the table and Kyle saw that the seat next to his grandma was still free. He mouthed an apology at his mom who shook her head and grinned, and sat down next to his grandma. Leonie Lighthill was a no-nonsense type of woman who always treated people justly but never with warmth. Everybody knew that she was the person running the Institute, making the decisions and heralding them all. As Kyle sat down he grabbed a piece of toast and some eggs and began eating, listening to the conversation his parents were leading.

"Robert, I prepared the room next to Kyle's for Christian. I hope that will be ok." Kyle's mom said looking at his grandfather. He nodded and said "Of course. Amy when did you say he was arriving?" Amy, Kyle's mother answered that their guest would be arriving around 11 o'clock. As Kyle was the oldest, almost an adult he was allowed to be included in "important" conversations, since once day he would be head of the Institute. His younger brothers were both 15 and his cousins 16.

After breakfast the whole family piled into the foyer to wait for the High Warlock of Toronto, Edwin Mando to come by and open the portal to let Christian through. At 10:50 a.m. Edwin strolled in and began to set it up. As the portal came into place, it shimmered purple, the way every portal does and Kyle thought "How weird it must be for mundanes to image the idea of a portal. To move from one place on earth, no matter where to anywhere else in the world.'

Usually when using a portal one had to know where you are going or else you would be stuck in limbo. Unless there was corresponding portal in an unknown destination, kind of like a door. Kyle gazed at the purple shimmering light and was wondering what the new boy would look like, when his mom put an arm around his waist. He grinned down at her. She said "Kyle, would you do me a favor?" He nodded; he would do anything for her. "Could you show Christian around- Get him to his room and you know, just keep an eye out to see if he fits in?" At the end of the sentence she cocked her head to the side, so that her black hair swished to one side. Kyle nodded "Of course mom. I would have done it even if you hadn't asked. It'll be interesting to meet a shadowhunter my age from Europe."

In that moment the portal whizzed and out of it stepped a young man/teen with short brown hair and grey eyes. Kyle looked at him, something about this guy caught his eye, maybe it was the unusual eye colour. Robert Lighthill, as head of the Institute, stepped forward to greet Christian. He introduced himself and greeted him in the name of everyone in the Institute. After him came Leonie and then Kyle's parents, followed by Kyle himself. He stepped forward and reached out his hand towards the other boy and grinned "Hi, my name is Kyle. Welcome to Toronto. If you need help with anything at all, don't hesitate to ask." Christian's face relaxed into a happy grin and he said "Thank you so much and please call me Chris" Kyle said he would and stepped back. His cousins Laura and Sam stepped forward together and greeted Chris as well. Finally his brothers Philip and Felix went to greet him.


	3. Chapter 2

**AN: Good morning to everyone here in Europe, I hope you had a great weekend enjoying the weather! Who else watched the world cup final yesterday?  
Here is a new chapter for you guys, hope you like it! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me. **

Chapter 2

His family all started leaving the foyer, going up the stairs, Edwin closed the portal and left and Kyle and Chris were the last two in the foyer. Kyle walked towards Chris and picked up two of his bags. "Follow me, I'll show you your room. All the bedrooms are on the second floor. You can either get there by using this huge staircase or the one at the other end of the hall. But at the other end there are only two spiral staircases there. If you're into walking down a magnificent staircase use this one, the others are just practical." They had reached the second flood and Kyle headed down the hall, his footsteps muffled by the carpet. "This used to be a building for the parliament, right?" Chris asked him. Kyle nodded and motioned at the carpet with his head "This carpet makes no noise when you walk; I bet the politicians used that feature to have private walks and meetings when nobody can hear you move about. Anyway, what was the Institute in Paris before?" He asked looking over at Chris. "Like almost everything in Paris, it used to be a church." Chris answered, laughing. "In Paris everyone is very religious; we care for our churches, which is why the building is still in such good shape." Chris looked around "Who lives in all of these rooms?" "These two are my cousins' Sam and Laura, the two opposite them are my brothers' rooms. The one on the left is mine; the one next to it is yours, which means that we'll be sharing a bathroom. At the beginning of the hall were my parents, grandparents and my aunt and uncle's room. The ones between ours and theirs are for visitors from the Clave and so on. You know the usual thing that an Institute should have enough room for a potential visit from Idris." Chris nodded. "Did I meet your aunt and uncle?" Kyle shook his head saying "No, they're in Idris, they represent the Lighthill family there." Chris nodded "My dad does that in our family. He's barely ever in Paris. We have less people living in the Institute: me, my mom, my older brother and sister and our teacher." Kyle glanced over at Chris, but he had stopped talking. They had reached the door of Chris' bedroom. Kyle put down the suitcase in his one hand to open the door and the bags down inside. "Here you are. Have fun, get settled. I'll be in the training room, one floor down, directly below us. Since the ceiling is high you can either enter one floor down onto a sort of balcony or go down to ground level and enter. Our training room is huge. You'll see." Chris thanked him and Kyle left, going through the bathroom to his own room. He grabbed his gear and got changed, into the typical shadowhunter clothing- sturdy black clothes made for running, fighting, moving but also made to protect the person wearing it. Finally he added his weapons belt which at the moment held nothing since all weapons should be kept in the weapons room, a rule Kyle only followed partly.

As the door closed behind Kyle, Chris took a moment to look around the room. It was large, larger than his room in Paris and quite spacious. The window showed downtown Toronto with a view of the CN-Tower. He breathed a sigh of relief. He liked the people here and the thought he would enjoy the time he spent here finally away from his overbearing mother. He pulled out his phone and dialed his mom's number. "Oui?" "Salut maman. Je suis arrivé bien!" "C'est bien mon chér! Je t'aime" "Toi aussi. Au revoir" Feeling better, he set his phone down on the nightstand. Going over to his bags, he opened the first one and began removing clothing and books. The next 20 minutes were spent organizing his things. When he was finished he looked around and smiled, he knew he would feel at home here in a couple of days' time. Chris walked to his closet and grabbed his gear. He got changed in front of the mirror above the dresser that was standing at one side of the wall. As always he looked at the tattoo he had on the left side of his stomach, right next to the long scar across his left hip. He traced the scar took a deep breath, and pulled his shirt down. Every day he did it, to remember- he would never let himself forget. The bandage he had was still in place. He felt ready to face Kyle and test his silks. With his weapons belt with his sword in it he turned left towards the spiral staircase that were closer to his door than the massive staircase he had come up on. He went down to the ground floor and entered the large double-doors into the largest training room he had ever seen. Kyle stood in the middle of a training mat with both of his cousins opposite him. He had two swords in his hand, one of them shorter than the other. One of the twins lunged forward; he parried and slashed at her the back hand. Her sister saw his side exposed and took her chance thrusting her sword at the gap. Kyle who has seen the blow flipped backwards and knocked both girls' weapons from their hands. His black hair was stuck to his forehead, and as he landed Chris could see his body was taught like a bow, completely aware of what was going on. He bent down and gave the girls their weapons back, thanking them. They grinned at him, and one of them, Chris didn't know which one, said "Oh Kyle, you always have the best moves. No one can ever beat you! It's kind of frustrating." He shrugged. "I'm sorry, but I can't help it." He sheathed his swords and turned stopping when he caught sight of Chris. Chris caught his breath as the green eyes fixed on him. He smiled. "That was quite a fight" He entered the room as the girls left. "Want to see how you do against me?" He asked Kyle.

Chris grinned and Kyle answering the challenge with a grin of his own said „Bring it on!" He took his shorter sword in his right hand and the longer one in his left. He automatically took a fighting stance, a crouch to minimize the attack options. Chris took his sword in both hands wondering how best to fight somebody with a fighting technique he hand never seen and opted to take a sideways stance, one opening his side to an attack. Kyle slashed his sword upwards, and since Chris was too slow he slit his shirt open and cut his skin. A Band-Aid fell to the mat. As a response Chris took a series of well-placed hard blow to try and unbalance Kyle. Kyle saw the blows coming, but had underestimated the strength Chris had, he stumbled and Chris hit Kyle's shoulder. To pretend he was hurt Kyle grimaced and let his arm slack, letting Chris think he couldn't use that hand anymore. Chris fell for the ploy and attacked on that side. Kyle ducked und the blow and slipped his short sword around Chris's neck from behind. He froze and let out a frustrated breach. "I yield." He said with a defeated voice. Kyle stepped out from behind him saying "That was a good fight" Thanks for fighting with or rather, against me." Chris grinned "It was great! Is your arm ok?" Kyle shrugged "It's ok, but it hurts. Will you give me an iratze?" Chris nodded, grabbing his stele from his belt. Kyle pushed the sleeve of his shirt up a bit, exposing his arm. You could see the traces of old runes and scars from old fights. Chris lowered his stele to Kyles arm and drew the healing run onto it. Immediately the pain in Kyle's shoulder receded until it was gone completely. Kyle pushed a lock of his eyes and glanced at Chris to see if he had an injury. His gaze fell upon the cut in his shirt and he remembered the bandage he had seen during the fight. "Chris, are you ok? I saw the bandage earlier… Do you need an iratze?" He nodded and Kyle recuperated, by drawing the rune on Chris's arm. "How did you learn to fight like that" I've never seen someone do it that way!" Kyle smiled, it was quite a story. "I was going to practice my archery a bit; do you want to join me? I'll tell you while we practice." Chris agreed and went to the rack of weapons to get a bow. He picked some up and tested how taught they were and how strong the material was. He chose one and grabbed a quiver of arrows. "So, tell me."


	4. Chapter 3

**AN: Hi everyone, hope you enjoyed the last few chapters! I look forward to hearing your opinions and thoughts! Feel free to let me know.**

 **And now, have fun reading!**

Chapter 3

Kyle followed suit and grabbed a bow and joined Chris at the archery stand. Chris looked over at him, waiting. Kyle blew his hair from his forehead, aligned his stance grabbed an arrow and let it fly. It hit its mark perfectly. "In my family it is a tradition for a child who turns 13 to be gifted something special. So, when I turned 13 my aunt and uncle gave me a present. They said they would pay for me spending at least 4 months in a foreign country. Like what you are doing now. It is a tradition for a 13-year-old to spend at least a couple of months abroad in a different country. My brothers got it as well and my parents paid for my cousins. So when I was asked where I wanted to go, I decided I wanted to go to Japan. I had loved learning about it in history and I was reading a book about it at that time. In Japan they have different weapons and styles of fighting. Mostly due to their history with Samurai and Ninjas. They learn the old Samurai and Ninja ways of fighting. I picked up that there was a skill barley anyone could do, only the best. Fighting with two swords. I felt I had found my calling. So I spent all of my time learning from old masters. I balanced on trees to learn to keep my equilibrium and then mastered the art. All of the elders told me that I wouldn't have enough time to become really good. Sadly when I got home, we didn't have the necessary weapons. My grandparents saw me try to learn on my own, but we didn't have what I needed. Then on my next birthday I got a present from the whole family, these swords and a private teacher. My brother Felix tried to join me once, but he didn't like the style. After that I had private lessons. He helped me and after many long, difficult months I was as good as he was. Now I am also a master." Kyle finished speaking and concentrated on also putting his last arrow on target. He checked to see if Chris still had arrows in his quiver and went to retrieve his own. After putting the bow back on the weapons rack, he said "I'm going to do some exercises for my balance" and went to retrieve a small array of objects which he placed seemingly at random across the room. Chris watched him. "Can I join you?" Kyle nodded. The next 20 minutes Kyle slowly showed Chris how to navigate the course while he himself crossed the distance with his eyes closed.

When they had finished, both left the training room, leaving their weapons behind. Chris showered quickly and put on some clothes, then knocked on the door to Kyle's room. "Come in" He heard from inside. He stuck his head inside "You can go in now. I'm done in here." Kyle looked up from the book he was reading. He had removed his shirt and shoes and was sitting on a couch with a book in his lap. "You can come in you know. I'm not going to bite." He grinned. His black curls has slipped over his eyes again, so he pushed them back and got up. "You like my room?" he asked taking a step forward. Chris smiled and nodded. He saw that Kyle had a wall full of pictures. Intrigued Chris went over to it and looked at the photos. There was Kyle with his brothers, with his parents, with a girl Chris didn't know, many photos in action and also some from Japan. "Who is she?" Chris asked pointing to the girl in many on the pictures. "That is my ex-girlfriend." He turned with a quizzical look to Kyle who laughed and said "It's a weird story to be honest." Chris turned to him fully and answered with a smile "Oh, everyone has weird stories. Don't worry about it. It just makes you normal, I guess." Kyle slowly walked over to the couch and sat down, indicated for Chris to follow suit and began speaking. "When I was in Japan, Jenny was there for a week. She was touring the world; she is two years older than I am. She was going to visit different Institutes all across the globe and at that time she came to the Tokyo one as well. We hung out a bit and talked and said we would stay in touch, because she is from the London Institute. Over the course of the months I was in Japan, we talked on the phone a couple of times and skyped too. When I came home, she visited very often and I went to London too. Since we always had to portal we almost always had a warlock around. It was actually quite crazy. So, after about a year, when I went to London on her birthday, I kissed her. We started dating and had a great time. The long distance thing was sucky and I think we portaled every day. When she turned eighteen she decided to come here for good. That was when things started turning bad. We started lying to each other and keeping things from one another. I had a student at the time, so I was completely focused on training and work. She had nothing to do and was bored. I don't really know how long we tried to work on it. Maybe like 4 months, I don't know. Anyway, she broke up with me, saying it wasn't how she had imagined it and that she would be going back to London. Now, our relationship is quite good again. It has been about 6 months since our break up. We haven't really seen each other since then. Well no, she came here for the twins' birthday and I went to London for her dad's funeral, but we haven't really talked much." Chris took all the information in and asked "You had a student? What do you mean by that? And you need to let yourself have time to heal and get back to normal. You guys might be friends again or not, who knows." Kyle nodded his agreement and set out to answer the question "I am a master of the sword fighting skill you saw earlier, so my parents and my former teacher had the idea that I could train others, like I myself was trained. It is a real paying job. The students live here in the Institute and train. There are several different levels you can reach. I have never had a student who wanted to reach the highest stage. But I've had a couple who want to reach the basic level and one who wanted a level that is a little higher. I'm actually surprised that I don't have a student at the moment." Chris gaped at him "Wow, you're 17 and already earning loads of money, are teaching others. Are all of them younger than you? The people you train?" Kyle shook his head, "No, I've had a student who was about 15 years older than me. He actually listened to what I said and it was really good." Chris nodded and said "Sounds really great. Oh Kyle, I wanted to ask you something. Would you mind telling me what is interesting to look at here in Toronto?" Kyle nodded "Sure. I can tell you, but I can also go with you and show you around a bit? If you're interested." Chris grinned and said he would be delighted. Kyle showered quickly and threw on some clothes. He grabbed a washed out jeans and a cream coloured sweater and blew his curls from his forehead impatiently. He put on his normal boots and stowed his knives in their normal positions. After he was done he pulled his phone from his pocket to check the time and went to Chris' room. He knocked and waited for him to answer. Chris came out the door and together they headed towards the main entrance of the Institute.


End file.
